Reno moving to get Cuban boy back with father
By Michael J. Sniffen, Associated Press, 4/7/00
WASHINGTON - The government next week will move to reunite Elian Gonzalez with his father, Attorney General Janet Reno said today, after meeting with Juan Miguel Gonzalez.
Reno said the boy's Miami relatives have been asked to meet Monday with psychologists and psychiatrists to determine how -- not if -- the transfer should take place.
"The law is very clear," she said. "A child who's lost his mother belongs with the sole surviving parent."
Gonzalez appeared confident as he left his meeting with Reno and Immigration Commissioner Doris Meissner, saying he is sure "I am going to have my child soon."
Reno said: "All you had to do was look at him and listen to him and see how much he loves this little boy."
She pledged "to take every step to ensure that a transfer occurs in a fair, prompt and orderly manner" to the father who wants to take the boy home to Cuba.
Acknowledging the opposition of anti-Castro Cuban-Americans and the boy's Miami relatives to the boy's return to Cuba, Reno said: "I wholeheartedly reject Cuba's system of government.
"Mr. Gonzalez and I do not share the same political beliefs. But it is not our place to punish a father for his political beliefs or where he wants to raise his child."
She said that early next week the Miami relatives would receive instructions on where and when Elian is to be turned over.
Gonzalez was accompanied at the Reno meeting by his second wife, infant son and lawyer. Reno emphasized that no Cuban officials were present at the session, which she called "open and honest."
Speaking briefly in Spanish afterward, Gonzalez said, "I have been able to explain the suffering that I have been going through and the suffering my son Elian has been going through for the last months."
Gonzalez hugged Reno and Meissner at the end of the meeting, Justice aides said.
Saying he was confident of retrieving his son soon, Gonzalez said, "The United States has assured me that it's going to be that way, and I am sure that it's going to be that way, and I am going to have my child soon."
Reno said the government could have moved much more quickly but chose instead to give the Miami relatives a chance to challenge the INS decision in court. "All we asked for was a pledge that the Miami relatives would turn over Elian voluntarily.
"They were unwilling to provide us with that assurance."
